Wordless Wednesday

Many Years Ago

A slightly premature birthday greeting to my dad, whose official age is "damn near eighty."

New Year's Resolution #2 ~ Organize

I know it's a little late to be making announcing New Year's Eve resolutions.  Lots of people don't even believe in them as most resolutions are forgotten once January is past.  I figured stating resolutions on a blog will be stating something to a power mightier than myself (the blogosphere) and therefore I must be held accountable.  When one is accountable, one is more likely to succeed at a task. 

So Resolution #1 is still underway and in most ways can be completed only when I accomplish Resolution #2.  Afterall, how can I work in Craftland if I'm not organized?  I have supplies galore and need lots of room to spin around when things go awry.

Bright and early Saturday morning Husby went down to Menards to pick up a couple of shelving units.  Nothing fancy.  You know the kind.

Very plain, but very versatile.  He put the first shelf together just like the picture.  Then he took a second shelving unit that was a little bigger, and made two short shelves rather than a big tall one.  This resulted in the creation of my new candle pouring station.  Not only did he put all of the shelves together, he even adhered ceramic tiles to the top of the candle pouring station to make it heat resistent.  What a hero!

But this isn't about Husby and his astonishing ability to assemble shelves.  It's about the fact that I can finally put all of my necessities neatly on shelves.  It's about the fact that all of my wax, all of my pouring pots, all of my additives, dyes, scents, molds and wicks are in the wax pouring station instead of scattered about the room.  It's also about the fact that I can now put all of my items for sale on shelves separate from the things used to make the items for sale.  Shelving is great, and much needed in the attempts to organize a Craftland.

Also contributing to my resolution to organize was spending a day cleaning out two computers.  I had to copy files, delete files, compare and contrast files and update files.  I was sort of forced to do this as tax season is coming up and I want to be sure I'm all organized for the tax man, aka Husby.  So basically I was pretty tired of looking at a computer screen by the end of the day.

The organization resolution will not end  with the computer and Craftland, but dang those short twenty-four-hour days, I couldn't get to any other rooms of the house during the weekend.  I shutter to think of that closet... 

Happy Monday!

New Year's Resolution #1 ~ Create And Maintain A Beautiful Craftland

Today is the day I announce my finally getting antsy about recharging Auntie B's Wax.  The business, that is.  After taking the month of December off (and most of January), I'm ready to jump into it again, to find new venues, to improve my Etsy shop, to be more organized with my consignment shops.  Enough of this lollygagging around.  I'm ready to get back into the studio and start pouring molten wax.  I'm ready to make ideas into actual things I can touch.

Did I say I'm ready to get back into the studio?  Ah, there's the rub.  You see, Craftland is in the midst of being rehabed and looks like it blew up.

That picture you just looked at?  Those are all candles that need to be remelted and made into new candles.  And then there are the supplies to deal with...

...and more supplies on the same shelving unit as candles to be sold.  Oh wait, there are some candles needing remelting on this shelving too.  See how disorganized?

The place is so disorganized I've taken to storing ready-to-sell candles on my desk table.  That's never good, because when things are on the desk table, that means I have absolutely no room to work. 

These pictures were taken after a productive year of being artsy and craftsy and before I started the project of creating a new space for myself.  I'm still in the midst of it, but progress is being made.  I'm excited about what this space will become, but I'm getting tired of the work I need to put into it to get there.  Delayed gratification has never been something I've embraced.  I want my dream space now.

Why am I showing you all of this?  Maybe so you don't have to feel like you're the only one who has let things get out of hand in your studio or home.  Maybe so you can feel really good about how you keep up your studio or home.  Maybe because if I show people my project it'll light a fire under my behind to get the dang project done already.

This weekend I plan to make some serious headway.  Yep, I'm ready.

Canals

You know how sometimes you hear a word and an image comes into your head?  I've been hearing the word "canal" lately.  Hearing that word instantly takes me to the canals of Venice.  Even though I've never been to Italy I've seen enough pictures and heard many stories of those little waterways winding throughout Venice that I can almost hear the gondola oars dipping in and out of the water. 

Unfortunately, when I've heard the word canal lately it's been paired with the word root.  As in root canal.  That certainly brings to mind a much different mental image.  Disgusting, actually.

So while I was in the dentist chair undergoing a root canal on my very sad, dead tooth I tried to visualize the canals of Venice rather than focusing on what was actually going on inside my mouth.  I decided at that time fantasy was much better than reality. 

In the days to come think of me, pity me, pray for me, for I will be enduring a bit of swollenness and some nasty pain.  Luckily I have some leftover Vicodin from a previous procedure.  Perhaps that little pill will again take me to my fantasy of floating through the canals of Venice.

Photos compliments of Mogio Close Up, James L Menius, DDS and Chiaroscuro.

Wordless Wednesday

Today's photo is the stunning art of Anastassia Elias.

A Little Controversial

No matter what time of day I peruse Etsy I find all sorts of wonderful things from fun vintage shoes to hairdo do-dads.  There are things for babies, things for teens, and things for adults.  There is artwork with rainbows and unicorns and creations from the dark side.  There is stunning jewelry that'll knock your hand-knit socks off.  While I may occasionally see something a little embarrassing, I have never seen anything offensive.

Apparently I'm not looking hard enough.  Seems there have been some items that "sparked intense debate" about what items should be allowed on Etsy.

Seems Etsy's policies have "prohibited disparaging or promoting hate against people based on race or religion for quite a long time. But they never covered gender, people with disabilities, or sexual orientation."

The new policy states, in a nutshell:  "We no longer allow items or listings that promote, support or glorify hatred toward or otherwise demean people based upon race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, disability, or sexual orientation; including items or content that promote organizations with such views... The revised policy now prohibits items or listings that promote or support illegal activity or instruct others to engage in illegal activity and items or listings that promote, support or glorify acts of violence or harm towards self or others."

I agree with Etsy's policy, but there's something to be said about those who have taken offense in what they've seen on Etsy.  The above images are Pulp Fiction magnets I've sold on Etsy.  Some may see them as demeaning to women, as disparaging the gay community, and/or as glorifying illegal activity.  I see them as smutty paperback novel artwork.  Who's right?  I don't know how my buyers viewed them, but obviously they weren't "offended" or they wouldn't have given up their hard-earned cash to buy them.  And the question is, will I be allowed to continue putting these items up for sale with the new Etsy policy?

Etsy welcomes inquiries from sellers as to their items' compliance with the new policy.  I hesitate to put them up for sale, but I'm also a business person who needs to earn a little jing.  I'm also not inclined to run my dozens of magnets by Etsy for approval.  So I'm kind of in a pickle.

What's your opinon on the situation?  While Etsy certainly has the right to allow or disallow anything they want on their website, do you think it's up to the members of Etsy (the buyers and sellers) to flag items as being offensive?  This isn't necessarily a matter of censorship because no one is telling the artisans they can't create, but who decides what is "offensive?"  And how many offended people does it take for Etsy to pull the item?

To see the policy announcement and hundreds of comments made on the subject click here.